Home Sweet Home
"The Diaspora is what he called it, eh?" One of the jōnin asked. Three other jōnin surrounded him, crouching within the canopies of trees. Rain trickled down the heart-shaped leaves, glistening from the light of the occasional lightning strike. The ground was saturated and muffled the steps of 2 ninja that walked through a pathway between the treeline. All of them wore outfits from Uzushiogakure with masks covering from their mouths down. Rustling leaves and the sound of jumping came from above while one of the two ninja on the ground continued straight. "Keep it down up there. We're not here to question our mission, only to complete it." A woman spoke up. She was the commander of the 6 man squad. "Bringing back this girl is all we're going to do, whether it be peacefully or by force." Steam emanated from her mask as she spoke, the chilling air making the conditions of the missions much more displeasing. The other four ninja in the treetops descended as they reached the edge of the forest as a large, impressive, and rather intimidating village came into view. "Looks like we're getting close." A small kunoichi spoke up from behind Chieko. Yumiko had only just graduated from the academy when she was assigned to a team and given this mission. The reason for this was for her exemplary tracking abilities. No ninja in the village could come close to her skill. It was Yumiko who allowed for her team to track and locate their other targets quicker than they would have without her. She tugged at her bow and quiver on her back. "Easy there, rook. We aren't here to kill." Chieko responded. She placed her hand out to ease Yumiko's excitement. "Besides, you've only just started as a ninja. What action could you hope to see?" The group continued forward, a pouting Yumiko and a stern Chieko at the forefront. Chieko held up a fist in order to stop the group. "Before I forget. Everyone, give me your hands. This is just in case anything goes wrong." She explained as she placed her hand on each of team members'. "Now, let's get this done." Meanwhile, the target being hunted by the Uzushio shinobi, was going back from her mission, strolling directly towards them. She seemed to be a graceful woman with long, thick, silky hair. Tinted with a pure black glow, moving freely in the wind as she jumped from branch to branch. Her face was a beauty. She possessed pale skin with red-hued eyes, decorating her face with make-up. She surely took care of her appearance. As for her clothing, it didn't look like that of a normal Kunoichi, it seemed to be for someone of great importance as it didn't even give a single indication of being a shinobi outfit. She wore a bright red, sleeveless kimono that ended in the middle of her thighs coming off as a short skirt. A piece of cloth covered her forearm starting from her elbow as it tightly griped her arm due to the elastic nature of the tip of the cloth. Then coming down as a loose piece of cloth. Her clothes were made out of silk, a highly soft material that is only used by those who possess great prestigious position. Her outfit was notably revealing a lot of skin. That woman was known as Shikaze, the most dangerous wind release user in all Amegakure. She was moving from branch to branch, tree to tree with a graceful fluent movement. She felt the slight presence of a Genin level shinobi as the others managed to mask their chakra. "oh? what do we have here?" she said. After concentrating her sensory perception, she was able to notice the presence of a few other shinobi in her way. While they showed no hostile indications, Fūrin kept her guard up as she made her way towards them. The wind picked slightly, sending slight shivers down the spines of the Uzushiogakure shinobi. Yumiko, however, was used to harsh conditions when she hunted. One of her hunts lasted over two days in multiple enviorments. The genin lifted her nose up into the air and took two quick sniffs before turning around and spotting an approaching figure. "Hold on, guys. I think we have something here." The other five ninja turned around to see the same figure coming towards their position. "Let's check it out." Chieko motioned for the others to follow. The darkness of their outfits hid them decently but they were illuminated by the cracking thunder and lightning. Chieko's eyes also brightened as she walked towards what she could now make out as a woman. "Excuse me, madam, but we're here on behalf of our Daimyō." Chieko began. "We are here to gather all inhabitants of Uzushiogakure and return them to the homeland. If you know of anyone who has such an affiliation to our land, it is imperative that release this information to us." Yumiko eyed the woman closely with an indifferent glare while the other four ninja simply watched Chieko as she spoke to the woman. She seems pretty oddly dressed for someone from around here. Yumiko thought. Her scrutiny was soon interrupted as one of her team members nudged her shoulder. "Don't stare so much." He whispered, making her frown. She touched her quiver of arrows absent-mindedly as she waited for Chieko to finish her rambling. "Uzu-shio?" said Fūrin with a surprised look on her visage. She was aware of her lineage to the Fūjin clan. She knew that Uzushiogakure was getting back on its feet as it was rumored that if any shinobi with lineage to Uzushio was found outside the village and refused to submit to Uzushio's forces; they would be considered as missing-nin, which endangers Fūrin as she would be blacklisted and chased by Uzushio. However, these were all mere rumors. Fūrin had unfinished business in Ame, she needed to settle certain issues before even thinking of returning to her origins. Fūrin brushed her hair wit her hands as she continued "Nonsense, I'm no Uzushio kunoichi. I belong to Amegakure." she said simply to avoid clashing against the Uzushio shinobi for no apparent reason. Chieko frowned slightly. "I never asked if you were one." She took a small step forward in an almost intimidating manner. Yumiko looked at her senior leader with mean glare. And she told me not to get hostile. She clenched her fists and folded her arms, knowing that she couldn't do anything without authorization. Chieko continued to look at Fūrin before speaking again. "You're one of them, aren't you?" She asked. "Everyone stay alert. If she's anything like our research dictates, her Wind Style is potentially deadly." Chieko ordered, making all of the ninja take up preemptive stances. Yumiko unsheathed her now with haste, holding it in one hand and keeping another hand near her quiver to grab an arrow if necessary. "If you'll only cooperate, we won't have to use force. We want to resolve this as nonviolently as possible. The choice is yours." Chieko warned as she backed away in battle stance. All of the ninja kept the guards up and were prepared to deal with a situation like this one. They were specifically hand-picked to handle a member of the Fūjin. Yumiko seemed most ready to battle, seeing as she also withheld the Wind Style. "So, what's your answer?" Fūrin closed her eyes in disappointment before she let out a small sigh. "My Wind-style is potentially deadly? Looks like there's not use hiding it. After all, I'm not the deceptive type. Will I cooperate? In your dreams. I have unfinished business here. I'm not coming with you. And trust me, the only one here who can put up a fight is the loud-mouth." she said referring to Chieko. "The little girl is clearly a Genin and the rest won't stand a chance, I'm not outnumbered, trust me. So listen, loud-mouth. If you value the life of your teammates, you better leave now. I have no reason to take the hostile route, don't force me to. Leave immediately." Fūrin said with arrogance in her tone. She knew that the only potential danger was Chieko, her chakra level was clearly superior to her peers. "Ugh, if you're going to be difficult then we'll just have go with force!" Yumiko barked, loading an arrow into the string of her bow aimed straight towards Fūrin. Chieko sighed in annoyance with both Yumiko's audacity and Fūrin's opposition. "That's fine, but our mission isn't done here until we bring back our targets." Chieko stated. "But no one said we couldn't do a little damage." She pulled out a single smoke bomb and whispered a string of mantras, threw it into the ground and ended with a small grin. Yumiko only looked at Chieko in surprise. She's already done it. She said, shaking her head. The genin continued to aim at her prey, ready to strike at a moment's notice. "Go easy on her, Captain." Chieko had airway tuned Yumiko out. She focused on the woman shorter than her. Her main objective was to secure her with minimal damage being done, which would likely prove to be a difficult task. Another crack of stormy thunder and Chieko seemingly disappeared with blinding speed, appearing in front of Fūrin with a blade to slash at her. Her free hand went up to grab her hair to pull at it and submit her. The Fūjin prodigy had somewhat of a passive reaction to what went on around her. It seemed as if she entered another zone outside the battle. A zone where she analyzed every portion of the battlefield. It seemed as if she was deaf as she only heard the sound of her thoughts due to her deep focus "I need to be careful, the opponents seem to have an idea about my fighting style, they could be Taijutsu, Ninjutsu or even Genjutsu users for all I know, caution is necessary for this one." she thought as her chain of thoughts was interrupted by Chieko who appeared in front of her instantly, attempting to slash at her and grab her silky hair. In a mere instant, a giant monstrous arm with a magical blue glow appeared to protect Fūrin from the initial assault, then attempting to grab Chieko. Fūrin was focused on the battlefield as a whole, she noticed that Chieko abandoned her teammates for a second, which gave her the chance to assault. Chieko threw a smoke bomb near the area of her comrades. It was useful enough to mask her movement, yet it obscured the vision of her comrades. Fūrin could determine the location of the shinobi through her sensory perception. Moulding a certain amount of wind-natured chakra in her arms, then transferring it to her fingers in an instant, she fired hurling wind blades at Yumiko by moving her arm in a swinging motion. The smoke obscured the vision of the Genin, not to mention, the attack was invisible, which proved to be very dangerous for the child. She's fast, as should be expected. Chieko thought as she shifted her momentum to avoid the brunt of Fūrin's attack. As the fingers began to close, Chieko used her previous markings to escape to Yumiko's position. Her momentum from the jump caused both Yumiko and Chieko to be knocked to the ground. The smoke cloud was cleared away but the two kunoichi were shielded by one of the other jōnin on the team. He had seen Fūrin make a move and jumped into action as the smoke blew away, giving away the attack. A slicing noise could be heard followed by spilling blood. His body fell to the ground lifelessly and his breath began to disappear. A good ninja lost his life on what was supposed to be a simple mission but now, Chieko was infuriated. She stood up, glaring at the now very short woman. Yumiko simply stood up once more, taking aim again and waiting. The remaining three ninja also stood by, seemingly ignoring the death of their comrade. The rain would prove to be a bane for Chieko's next move but she had no choice. After putting together a few seals, a raging flame erupted from her mouth and closed in on Fūrin. With that, Chieko also threw two of her kunai into the ground. One of them landed near the base of the trees while the other landed directly in front of her. Fūrin gazed at the scene in awe as she pulled off a perfect succession of attacks, took advantage of the environment and turned Chieko's disguise to danger for her teammates, yet one of the Jōnin managed to get in the way of her attack. Her eyes widened from the scenery "Impossible, simply impossible. My attack is invisible, not to mention it was disguised by the smoke, which obscured the area. How did this Jōnin know?" she thought as she focused on the chains of actions that occurred. She noticed that the teammates cared so little for their comrade, showing no interest in his death. When concentrating on Chieko "Wha-What!? I swear she was shorter! Something's wrong." she thought as he eyes narrowed in tension. She was interrupted with fireballs coming at her. She weaved the bird hand seal, creating a vacuum in the pathway of the fire balls, extinguishing them instantly. Fūrin jumped onto another tree branch as she began analyzing the battlefield. Fūrin started revising the battle, she got a flashback when Chieko threw the smoke bomb "I swear I heard her mutter some gibberish..." she paused as she tried to see if something went wrong during the battle. She kept revising the scenes of the battle, the part where Chieko threw the smoke bomb and spoke the mantras kept ringing in her head. Her eyes opened as if she was in shock, she smirked then followed it with slight chuckles. "I got it" she spoke out loud to Chieko. "... Genjutsu. I have to say, it wasn't easy to figure out. However, you seem to have made a few flaws. If I'm not mistaken, the Genjutsu is a sound-based Genjutsu, which took place when you kept repeating the gibberish you spoke when throwing the smoke bomb. It wasn't noticeable and I couldn't understand it, which qualifies it to be the perfect trigger. You seem to have forgotten a few environmental details. First off, you made one of the Jōnin react to the attack, keeping in mind that you were the only one who saw the attack. You didn't communicate with the Jōnin in anyways, which gave away that he was part of the Genjutsu, an illusion." she paused for a second as she took her breath. "Secondly, when the man died, his teammates didn't seem to care much for their fallen comrade, despite the gore and blood that consumed the area. Even if we're shinobi, we're not machines, we have feelings. They would have shown even a slight bit of interest towards their fallen comrade. The third and most important thing..." she said as she jumped down from the tree branch to land on the ground in a fluent motion. "Notice anything different? Indeed, our heights are very much different, you seem to have made me shorter since you saw me from another perspective as I was standing on the tree branch, which made it hard to calculate my height, which made the gap noticeable." she resumed as she maintained her smirk, filled with confidence. "I'm sorry, but I think it's time to end these games." she said. Fūrin realized that she was facing a Genjutsu user, she knew that she would need to pay attention to the environment and small details as well as avoid eye contact. Her main concern was to break the Genjutsu, which would be done in a few steps. First, Fūrin needed to realize the presence of a Genjutsu, which she did since the flaws were obvious. Secondly, she needed to regain control over the chakra flow in her mind. Similar to lucid dreaming, when realizing one is in a Genjutsu, it provides an easier way to maintain control by forcing a certain thought and realizing that she was in control as it's her brain. As she trained countless times on breaking Genjutsu and practiced lucid dreaming, it wasn't immensely difficult. The final step was the actual break, Fūrin started blocking the chakra flow in her body, she weaved the ram hand seal. She then compressed the chakra in her body into her stomach, stopping the chakra flow completely, she was one step away from breaking the Genjutsu. Chieko clapped slowly, a grin of superiority on her face. "You have a good eye. Though, I'm afraid it's a bit too late for your sudden revelation." Her voice was cold and absolute, sharp like a knife. Outside of her mind, Chieko's four jōnin team members had restrained Fūrin by her extremities while Chieko moved to place a seal upon her back to keep her docile. "Secure her. Make sure she can't move a muscle." The commander ordered. Yumiko stood a ways behind the group, having kept her arrow locked onto the Wind Style user. Her task was to ensure that, if Fūrin were awaken and make trouble, she would stop her with her kyūjutsu. The shot would go straight through her heart at breakneck speed, the augmentation due to Wind making it so. Upon releasing her chakra all at once, she found herself grabbed by the Uzushio Jōnin, restraining her from movement and limiting her freedom. All her limbs were bound and she saw the young woman, Yumiko aiming the arrow at her. Not only that, but Chieko was running directly towards her with what seemed like a hostile attempt. It was clear that Yumiko was there to shoot Fūrin if she made any hostile actions, yet Fūrin couldn't wait for Chieko to strike her. "Nice try, loud-mouth" said Fūrin as she glanced at the kunoichi assaulting her. Flicking her neck the other way, she smirked and chanted the name of her technique "Kiryū Kōzoku" she then vanished in thin air, merging with the atmosphere. It was her ultimate jutsu, an advanced form of self-transmutation. She then reformed directly behind Yumiko, in an instant. Attempting a very fast strike, covering her hand with a green aura with the assistance of her advanced chakra flow. This created a giant blade covering her hand, which proved deadly for Yumiko. Fūrin is a master of silent killing, she was able to sneak behind Yumiko without creating the slightest sound. Fūrin didn't target a vital spot, she attempted to strike Yumiko beside the stomach as she didn't wish to kill the young woman. However, if Yumiko were to move, it could cost her life as Fūrin could accidentally strike her liver or abdomen. Chieko froze as she watched Fūrin disappear without the slightest visual trace. The jōnin that had held her collapsed on each other, landing in the muddy grass. It seemed as though the rainstorm has grown even closer as a lightning bolt flashed brightly and the thunder cracked so loudly that it blocked out Chieko's hearing. However, she could still see the chilling display before. Blood dripping to the ground, the shocked eyes of the ninja around her. It was almost unreal. Chieko couldn't describe what she felt at that moment. It was a mix of fear and pain. It was her blood on the ground and it was her teammates looking at her with shocked gazes. She was pierced by Fūrin's attack. "Captain!" Yumiko yelled, getting up from the ground and sheathing her tantō. Yumiko was knocked to the ground when the lightning flashed. She hadn't known what happened afterwards as the thunder clouded her hearing. However, Chieko knew what she had done. She used her Flying Thunder God, this time to save someone else. In the process, Yumiko was shoved out of the way while Chieko took the full brunt of the attack. The genin lurched forward and attempted to slash at Fūrin with her now wind-infused blade while the other jōnin moved in from the opposite side. Chieko only fell to the ground almost lifelessly, a blood trail coming from her mouth. "W-What!? she saved the genin!?" thought Fūrin as her eyes widened in shock. She didn't expect Chieko to save Yumiko, she was astonished by how Chieko got there with that speed as she didn't know that Chieko possessed the Flying Thunder God Technique. She was then faced by Yumiko who came charging at her. "Alright, that's enough. Play time's over. I'll kill all of you!" she grunted as she gave Yumiko a piercing glance. She placed her hand on her sword, which was placed by her waist. Yumiko was attempting to stab Fūrin with the Tantō. However, Fūrin was a master of Kenjutsu, she enjoyed nothing more than clashing blades with her foes. Fūrin dodged the Tantō strike, drew her sword then slashed at Yumiko with great speed, while charging towards her. "Your Bukijutsu needs honing, young one. One doesn't go for such a straight-forward attack with a Kenjutsu specialist." she said sheathing her sword as she turned her vision to Chieko, who was lying on the ground. "So that's it? she's done?" she thought as she glanced at Yumiko to see the effects of her assault. A sickening slicing noise came from Yumiko's torso, blood splattering on her body and on the ground. Like a falling tree, Yumiko fell down with a hollow thud. The remaining 5 ninja separated and set up to attack Fūrin. One of them moved to retrieve Chieko's and tend to her injuries while the other four focused on Fūrin. Yumiko's body, however, puffed away in smoke and left behind a log in her stead. From a distance, she readied her Meifu no Yumiya and aimed into the air. The three ninja threw a multitude of weapons in order to disrupt Fūrin's focus while a hidden Yumiko fired her arrow into the air. A large symbol appeared on the sky, ominously looming over all the shinobi. The ninja that secured Chieko was well on his way of escaping the battlefield. The Uzu shinobi's main objective now is to ensure limited casualties. With Chieko now out of harm's way, they could look to either escape themselves or fend off Fūrin until Yumiko could also escape. Since she is the top genin of the Hidden Eddy village, it would be a major blow to their shinobi forces as they are the future military of the village. When the ninja saw the symbol above, they knew to find cover quickly. All of them, in the blink of an eye, dashed under the cover of the trees with kunai in hand. Almost immediately, a immense storm of arrows rained down as if they were rain drops themselves. Only the arrows moved with near lightning speed, which to dodge them would be a feat of ages. Fūrin dodged the weapons with ease as wind circulated around her knocking the weapons away. She noticed that Chieko was being carried away from the battlefield. "Trying to escape? heh, not so fast, loud-mouth. I do have to say, the genin is a strong one, I didn't see the replacement technique coming." she thought as Yumiko shot the arrow in the sky. Fūrin looked up only to see a strange symbol. Her eyes widened "An aerial attack?!!" she said as the rain stopped. She then saw a glowing pink texture in the sky. She was about to lean, yet the arrow was so fast that it injured her left arm. "So ... fast!" she thought as she let out a scream of agony. Looking up, she saw thousands of these arrows coming directly at her. Fūrin enraged by her injury, used Kiryū Kōzoku in order to dematerialize as the arrows were just about to pierce her. Fūrin targeted Chieko as she knew she was the strongest of the shinobi. She located her through sensing her chakra. She was with one of the Jōnin, hiding from the arrow massacre caused by the Genin. Fūrin made her way to them, yet she didn't materialize in front of Chieko. She materialized behind a tree that was meters away from her. Fūrin was known for her mastery of assassination. She was an expert in that field. Attempting to kill Chieko and her comrade, she used Hiding with Camouflage Technique in order to alter the light reflection around her body. She then moved with deftness and silentness. It was her silent killing technique. She sneaked behind Chieko, drew her sword and started slashing mindlessly allover her body hoping to cause as much damage as possible. She then charged at the Jōnin, targeting his throat with her sword. "She took the bait." The ninja said as "Chieko" dispersed into faded wisps and his throat was pierced with his body doing the same. Once again, Chieko was renowned and feared as a master of genjutsu for a reason. The surface of her myriad of techniques had only been scratched. She was not going to be taken down so easily. Her display of that last act was a monument to her seemingly endless capabilities. With it in place, Chieko could do anything her mind could imagine. However, her sole objective was to retrieve this woman and that is what she was going to do. Being the paragon of both acuteness and deception, Chieko used her Flying Thunder God to serve as a way to save Yumiko and entrap Fūrin. At the moment of contact between Fūrin's hand and Chieko's body, the Uzushiogakure kunoichi knew that it would allow her to make the move she so quickly came up with. Chieko, as a master, knows that genjutsu does not just encompass one sense. That goes for both the user and the receiver. Sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch are all susceptible to its effects. Exercising the application of illusions through all of the senses was paramount to becoming a true user of genjutsu. With that ideal, Chieko established herself as a savant and made genjutsu her end-all-be-all. "Time to finish this." The real Chieko said, seal and kunai in hand. Fūrin, being caught in the genjutsu, was frozen with a blank stare in her eyes. The genjutsu was layered, of course, with a safeguard in the event that Fūrin discover the first genjutsu. Chieko faced Fūrin and reached place the seal upon her stomach. Yumiko stood with the jōnin, shocked at her near-death experience. She had to be supported due to spraining her ankle, an injury that Chieko caused but hadn't planned for. "You two." One of the jōnin spoke up. "Take her back to the village quickly. We can't have her out here like this." Two of the jōnin moved into action, one of them holding Yumiko bridal-style and the other accompanying them as support should they be attacked on the journey home. The remaining jōnin stayed behind to assist Chieko with Fūrin.